A church in the Finnish region of South Karelia caught fire in the middle of a Christmas service on Sunday, with local police believing the incident was a deliberate act of arson.
The wooden church, located in the municipality of Rautjärvi, caught fire on Christmas morning and was evacuated during the morning Christmas service after smoke alarms detected and alerted worshippers at around 9:30 am. While all of those present at the church were able to safely evacuate the building, the church itself was engulfed in flames and was completely destroyed.
The South-East Finland Police Department arrived on the scene of the fire and stated that they believed the fire was likely deliberately set and are investigating the incident as an arson attack, Finnish broadcaster Yle reports.
Chaplain Timo Kälviäinen, who was conducting the Christmas service, stated, “I had time to realize that the fire alarm was ringing, and it didn’t take long after that.” Kälviäinen stated that the 30 to 40 parishioners exited through the side doors as the fire was set at the main doors of the church.
Another witness to the fire, Linda Wilen-Veijalainen, who lives next door to the building, described the scene saying, “From our farm, we could see when the church tower collapsed. I don’t think there will be much left of that.”
Police have also stated that they are investigating whether or not the fire may be linked to another recent suspected arson at a home around 20 miles from the church that took place just hours after the church fire. A body was also found at the scene of the burned home.
The church fire could be just the latest anti-Christian attack to take place over the Christmas season in Europe and comes after churches were attacked in Bordeaux and Paris in recent days.
Other symbols of Christmas, were also attacked in France, including a Christmas tree that was cut down by a man yelling Allahu Akbar and a nativity scene set on fire in a suburb of Strasbourg.
Pope Francis predicted that he would have a short papacy, yet the passing years have pretty much invalidated that prophecy. The Francis papacy is becoming epic in its duration despite visible signs of the pontiff’s declining health, namely the way he wobbles as he moves around St. Peter’s Basilica.
Francis’ body may be crumbling, but time has not muted this ruthless reformer’s iron will when it comes to changing the Catholic Church into something it has never been.
The dictator pope’s latest radical action is the laicization of Fr. Frank Pavone, a well-known anti-abortion activist and head of the stalwart Priests for Life, on blasphemy charges. ‘Blasphemy charges,’ of course, conjures up the worst atrocities in Islam and the punishments that follow: beheadings, assassinations, honor killings, and the like.
For a Catholic priest, laicization is a kind of beheading.
A laicized priest loses the rights and privileges of clerics, such as the faculties to say Mass, hear confessions (except in danger of death), the wearing of clerical dress and the right to be addressed as ‘father.’ Existentially, of course, Father Pavone remains a priest forever, despite Francis’ authoritarian decree.
The Pavone “beheading” has shocked the Catholic world in a far worse way than the Amazon Synod Pachamama pagan idol scandal did in 2019.
Pavone’s problems go back to his relationship with his bishop in Amarillo, Texas, Bishop Patrick J. Zurek.
In 2017, Zurek met with Pavone and complained about his work, telling him that he didn’t want him “doing this kind of work,” meaning of course the priest’s very public anti-abortion work. Pavone countered Zurek by saying that the work was his vocation and calling, then asked the Bishop if what he was really saying was that he should leave the priesthood.
Zurek, taken aback, uttered a dramatic protest: No, no, no, he assured Father Pavone, this is not the case at all!
That turned out to be an ecclesiastical lie because some weeks later Pavone received a letter from Zurek demanding that he leave the priesthood.
As for the blasphemy charge leveled against Father Pavone, what was it?
Was Pavone seen at strip clubs sniffing cocaine while stuffing bills into the panties of pole dancers? Was he on Grinder meeting male escorts who made him wear dog collars and bear masks a la Sam Brinton, Biden’s former waste management czar? Was he caught molesting children in a pre K Sunday school? Or were his offenses of the liturgical variety, like orchestrating a tango Mass as Pope Francis did when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires?
The blasphemy charge leveled again Father Pavone has to do with an incident that occurred years ago during the 2020 riots – when he got into an argument on social media with a crazed leftist who drove him to say something he new regrets and even went to confession for.
During that confrontation, Father Pavone referred to “supporters of this g-damn loser Biden and his morally corrupt, America-hating, God-hating Democrat party.”
In the obscenity cursing world, this is Walt Disney stuff, nothing compared to what everyone hears everyday while walking the streets of a big city.
But when the powers-that-be are after you, when those powers – meaning Bishop Zurek and his minions, with whom Father Pavone had been tangling with for years – can’t wait to apply their microscope to every crack and crevice of your life, it is only a matter of time before they get you.
For Francis, the pope of Rome with the Machiavellian face, charity begins with like-mindedness. “If you are with me [ideologically] I will give you a pass. All’s well. Go in peace.”
Protest abortion, but let your protests be like the January midday sun in Lapland, weak and faded with only a couple of hours of light. “We have the world to contend with, the governments, Jill and Joe Biden. We must not be too strident in our opposition,” pretty much sums up Francis’ philosophy.
Pavone, however, would have none of that.
When a pathologist friend of his gave him the corpse of an aborted baby for prayers before Pavone could organize a proper funeral Mass, the priest placed the baby on a table in his chapel/study for prayers and as a lesson on the horrors of abortion.
Sensationalist reactors said that the aborted baby’s corpse was presented during Mass, which was not the case. Or they said that Pavone went too far, forgetting that lawyers present upsetting photographs of victims of crime in court rooms during trials.
“In the chapel were only me and the baby, whose funeral has already been held and who has been laid to rest. No family were present, because they rejected the child and had him killed. His body would have been thrown in the garbage had we not accepted it,” Father Pavone said.
As Father Pavone told one Catholic podcaster: “I’m waiting for them [the Vatican] to point out to me what I did wrong that merits something like this.”
Pavone added that ultimately he and his allies “would have to appeal to the next pope” and “to the people of God.”
Only divine intervention, of course, will cause the next pope to be something other than Francis. More likely than not, the next pope will be a duplicate in spades, a mega Francis who will continue along the serpentine path set by Francis.
The New York Times had this to say about Pavone’s dismissal:
“The punishment of a high-profile Catholic anti-abortion activist comes at a precarious moment for the movement as it plans its future after losses in the midterm election and struggles to unify Republicans around the issue. Mr. Pavone’s anti-abortion activism was not cited in the letter as the reason for his dismissal. “
“I’ve been persecuted in the church for decades, decades. This is nothing new for me,” Pavone said. “They just don’t like the work I’m doing for these babies.”
Pavone told The Washington Post that his actions caused “no small controversy,” but added that, “My followers agree that the truth about abortion has to be seen, because the word has lost all its meaning. We sanitize it.”
Although the mainstream media refers to Pavone as “Mr. Pavone” because of his laicization, conservative and traditional Catholic voices continue to refer to him as “Father Pavone.”
Asked how the pope’s official “cancellation” of him as a priest would affect his work going forward, Father Pavone said that nothing would change.
In one video, dressed in full clericals, Father Pavone said he will continue to lead Priests for Life, and that nothing would change although he fully expects Francis to excommunicate him.
Father Pavone is certain that excommunication will be the next step, and that it’s only a matter of time before Francis proceeds to take this action in his campaign to silence authentic Catholic voices.
The United Kingdom Universities’ alignment with Confucius Institutions exposed China’s ‘External Propaganda Schemes’ to sway the opinions on Chinese policies and politics abroad, Kaliph Anaz writes in Asian Lite International.
The Confucius Institutions, which the UK termed the “largest threat to the world’s security and prosperity this century,” were administered by the Hanban, an abbreviation of the Office of the Leading Small Group (LSG) for the International Promotion of the Chinese Language. After a few years of the establishment of the Confucius Institute Headquarters Council, it gradually integrated with the Chinese Communist Party propaganda system.
CCP’s desire to use Confucius Institutions to infiltrate the study of China in the UK; has come up with strategies to launch a research-focused “Confucius China Studies Program” also referred to as the “New Confucius Sinology Plan,” which allows systematic cooperation between the CIs and host institutions on the projects of doctoral students, youth leadership, study trips for scholars to “understand China”, international conferences and assistance for publishing research, reported Asian Lite International.
There are about 30 Confucius Institutions within British universities and 150 schools that have been funded to the tune of perhaps Euro 46,000,000 by the Chinese government. Their influence extends well into British politics, academia, and business.
The Hanban agreement clearly states that Confucius Institutions must abide by the “One China” principle. Hanban has distributed books titled “The Economy of Tibet,” “Invest in China,” “The Road to China’s Prosperity; “The Communist Party of China”, and “Contemporary China” as per the agreement between UK’s Confucius Institutions to sway the public perception about China; this act is external propaganda through academia, according to Asian Lite International.
The British universities must also facilitate a special bank account with the Bank of China under the CI’s name; and set annual funding to CIs that at least equals Hanban’s contribution, i.e., nearly USD 150,000 ‘start-up’ fund.
The Department for Education, UK has already tightened its position on Confucius Institutes stating that the Government was “committed to doing more to adapt to China’s growing impact” and encouraged people with concerns about any Confucius Institute activities to report them.
Officially, Confucius Institutes promote the Chinese language and run classes in culture, from calligraphy and cooking to tai chi. They also sponsor educational exchanges and hold public events and lectures. These institutes are open to the general public, reported Asian Lite International.
The Principal and Siksha Mitra of a government school in Uttar Pradesh have been booked for making students recite an Islamic prayer. The matter came to light after Vishwa Hindu Parishad complained about it with a video of the students reciting a prayer said in madrasas. Recently a video of students of government school in Bareilly saying Islamist writer Muhammad Iqbal’s poem as morning prayer.
VHP functionary Sompal Singh Rathore lodged a complaint with the local police accusing the Principal and Siksha Mitra of trying to lure students toward Islam and eventually convert them. Following this, an FIR has been registered against Principal Nahid Siddiqui and Siksha Mitra Wazeeruddin at Fareedpur police station. The complaint said, “Teachers Nahid Siddiqui and Wazeeruddin were making the students reciter prayer as per Muslim method with an intention to hurt sentiments of the Hindus. This is being done by the two teachers to attract students towards Islam. Both the teachers are hurting the sentiments of Hindus and preparing for the students’ conversion.”
Basic Siksha Adhikari(BSA) who investigated the issue toldThe Indian Express, “A prayer was being recited which said something like, ‘Allah ibadat karna’. This is not the stipulated prayer, and hence school principal Nahid Siddiqui has been suspended. I have also ordered a probe against the shiksha mitra”. 625 students study in the school which has classes upto 8.
Principal Nahid has said that she wasn’t aware of the incident as she was on medical leave. She further said that Siksha Mitra Wazeeruddin had asked her permission to use the Islamic poem as prayer earlier but she refused to allow it. She accused Wazeeruddin of using her absence to make students recite the prayer. She has been suspended and a probe has been ordered against Wazeeruddin.
Police have recorded the statement of other teachers in the school and sent the video in which students can be heard singing the Islamic prayer for a forensic test. The poem which goes, “Mere Allah burai se bachana mujhko, nek jo rah ho us rah pe chalana mujhko…Lab pe aati he dua ban ke tamanna meri” was written by Mohammad Iqbal, an Islamist writer. It is used as a prayer in madrasas. In 2019, a similar complaint was raised against the headmaster of a government school for making students recite the same prayer.
Here’s a trailer for Henry V, seen just as it would have in Shakespeare’s day at the Globe Theater.
Of course, that’s long gone.
The miserable place known as Shakespeare’s Globe was recreated as an attraction in the UK by an American Communist actor, has little in common with Shakespeare’s theater beyond the architecture and its only real productions are outbursts of lame wokeness with high school level talent at every level.
And while wokeness is commonplace now, the Globe strives to dramatically exceed everyone else’s wokeness.
Elizabeth I “was a non-binary person too, according to academics working for Shakespeare’s Globe, who have cast doubt on the gender identity of one of England’s greatest queens. Elizabeth I has been presented as possibly non-binary in an essay published by the theatre, which refers to the female monarch with the gender-neutral “they/them” pronouns.”
“The essay was written by a “transgender awareness trainer” in defence of the Globe’s decision to stage a new play featuring a non-binary Joan of Arc, but both the play and the essay have raised concerns that famous females are being written out of history.”
Can’t imagine why they’d think that. At this rate, if J.K. Rowling dies tomorrow, they’ll claim that she was non-binary too.
You can get a sample of the Globe’s top-notch research in the Globe’s “Was Shakespeare Gay?” presentation. (The answer, obviously.)
The Globe Theater marked Earth Day with “Shakespeare and Climate Emergency”, examining the works of the Bard through climate panic, or the other way around. We are told however that Shakespeare “would have had no conception of the scientific link between emissions and climate change.”
Every production now contains trigger warnings. Like this one for Henry V, currently being performed.
“This production contains graphic violence; coercive behaviour; sexual assault and strong language, including descriptions of infanticide and sexual violence.”
But what can you do with Henry V? The Globe throws in essays about the evils of nationalism and rape culture, but even its woke leftists can’t possibly shove racism in there?
Or can they?
“Our free Anti-Racist Shakespeare webinars bring you a range of perspectives from scholars and artists about Shakespeare’s plays and how they engage with the topics of race and identity. In this webinar, Globe scholars will be joined by theatre artists and scholars to discuss race and social justice in Henry V.”
I haven’t sat through it, but you can sample the Anti-Racist take on King Lear by three female third-world woke academics. If you can sit through 5 seconds of it, you’re a better or worse man than I am. And if we ever do need to properly reopen Gitmo, this will do for torture sessions. Every Jihadi will break within the hour. They may have survived having Nasser speeches played for them for 24 hours back in Egypt, but this is the real stuff.
This isn’t Shakespeare’s Globe, despite its much-abused name, it’s Marx’s. And considering the place is the legacy of a Communist, that’s as it should be.
There is a conspiracy to remove Christianity from Europe and the German Catholic Church is complicit in this goal, said retired Hungarian Archbishop Gulya Márfi during an interview with news portal Magyar Jelen published on Christmas day.
“The situation of the German Church is truly catastrophic. According to the (German Church), it is not important whether Jesus is really born or not, the important thing is that ‘he is born in you’.” He called it “anti-Christian” that a significant number of German Catholic priests now bless same-sex marriage and warned that the Church has become nearly anti-Christ.
“It is very sad what is happening in Germany. I don’t want to offend them, but somehow they always fall from one side of the horse to the other. They went from Hitler and National Socialism to cosmopolitan globalism. No more Germans, French, Hungarians, or Italians — only Europeans.”
The former archbishop said that he is foremost a Catholic, but also a Hungarian, without being “chauvinist” about his identity. He said that while he can respect the cultures of Europe, the efforts to promote multiculturalism are being used to crush identity, culture and faith.
“I am Hungarian, but I also respect other peoples. In Europe, diversity is needed in addition to unity, but there is no need for multiculturalism,” said Márfi. “In a multicultural, mixed society, the individual loses his own identity, sense of identity, culture, faith, language, practically everything. It becomes easy to manipulate, which is ideal for the big capitalists of the world, who want to turn the whole Earth into a huge collective farm, where there are no ethnic, national and religious identities; only obedient workers and consumers manufactured, according to standards.
War against Christmas
When asked about efforts to remove Christmas from Europe, the former archbishop responded, “From what I hear and read, the situation seems catastrophic. In many places, they try to make people forget the word Christmas itself, and they only talk about holidays.
“The Christmas tree was already removed from the Brussels City Hall eight to ten years ago, on the grounds that they did not want to offend the sensibilities of Muslims.”
He continued by criticizing that Europe failed to incorporate Christianity from the beginning.
“One of the most striking signs of the European Union’s anti-Christianity is that its constitution did not mention Europe’s Christian roots. They write about Greco-Roman traditions and the Enlightenment, but not about Christianity. Yet, ancient culture and art survived thanks to Christians: the writings of Virgil, Tacitus, Homer and others were copied by monks in the depths of their cells.”
Márfi criticizes woke ideology, LGBT, and Muslim immigration
The former Hungarian archbishop also said that the promotion of the mass immigration of Muslims is part of an effort to root out Christianity.
“In my opinion, Muslims are also being invited in to remove Christ and Christianity from Europe. In doing so, however, the (Europeans) are ultimately destroying themselves, because Islam will never accept their liberal principles,” Márfi said.
“It is practically the same situation as it was in the time of the Savior, when the scribes and Pharisees collaborated with their mortal enemy, Pontius Pilate, to get Jesus out of the way. Today, the Freemasons and Muslims are teaming up to wipe Christianity out of Europe.”
Despite his concerns about immigration and multiculturalism, the former archbishop says that woke and LGBT issues pose the greatest threat.
Márfi said it is difficult to decide whether Woke or Islamization and immigration pose a greater threat to Europe, but if he had to prioritize, he would choose LGBTQ and woke trends in society. He said it was part of an effort “to make a cult of them, which is a mortal sin and also against the laws of nature.”
He continued by saying that “in relation to the LGBTQ issue, we cannot forget the rights of children. On the one hand, they should not be allowed to be confused about their gender identity and orientation through the media, advertising and education, and on the other hand, they have the right to a mother and a father.”
In the interview, the former archbishop stressed that in order to defend Christianity, Hungarians must “hold on very tightly to their faith”.
The police have identified and interviewed 9 authors of racist tweets towards Kylian Mbappé: They are all of Congolese, Algerian, Rwandan or even Somali origin.
After a missed penalty at the last Euro football tournament, the star received a barrage of hateful tweets. Nine people have been questioned by the police, one of whom has already been convicted of “provoking racial hatred”. Mediapart met some of the people who had been tweeting such messages.
One of the most famous men in soccer, Mbappé, striker for Paris-Saint-Germain, has been on the receiving end of offending messages: “Kylian Mbappé this dirty nigger deserves to be whipped a hundred times and sold in Libya this nigger doesn’t deserve the French Republic direction Cameroon or the cotton fields [sic].”
The young man behind the infamous post is neither a neo-Nazi nor is he white. His name is Karim, he is 19 years old, has a clean record and an Islamic beard.
A notable detail, because all the “haters” are young, mostly graduates and of African or Caribbean origin, and often share the particularity of attacking Kylian Mbappé because of his mixed race.
Most of them come from working-class backgrounds but have just graduated; they live in the city, still with their mum and dad; they don’t claim to have any political views; they spend between two and eight hours a day on the internet. All of them have French nationality but are of Congolese, Algerian, Rwandan or Somali origin.
